Test server was able to successfully mine both an NMC and BTC block, so it was taken back offline. The merged mining code will be deployed to the live server very shortly. Similar to what happened with slush, merged mining rewards won't initially be visible to users (still need to setup the frontend for it). However, the backend will be logging all of your NMC shares during that time, so once the frontend is finished you will see all the merged mining rewards you earned up to that point.

Pool server is back running, using the test server bitcoind remotely for sync'ing until the local bitcoind is done sync'ing with the blockchain. Website is disabled until the local bitcoind is caught up.

NMC will be credited just like BTC is, PPS on valid shares. It does not matter if you have an NMC address added or not, the rewards will be a part of your account and available for withdrawal whenever you setup an address.

The NMC side of things will start becoming visible tonight as I add it to the frontend. It will be just as simple as setting up your BTC wallet and requesting payouts.

will there maybe be a way to rrequest to only be paid in btc instead of both btc and namecoin?

I do not currently have any plans to allow an NMC -> BTC conversion. There's nothing preventing you from setting your wallet to an exchange and having your coins paid to the exchange to sell for BTC. As far as I'm aware, no exchange has an API to sell NMC for BTC automatically, which is a requirement before I even consider allowing people on the pool to convert between currencies.

What's this merged mining business? Does it slow down my BTC mining hash? It looks so... Can I opt-out of merged mining and just stick to BTC?

Merged mining doesn't hurt BTC production. The only effect it had on BTC production was the server was offline a bit longer than expected when I switched it over to Merged Mining. You're getting a free bonus that you can sell for extra BTC on the exchange if you have no interest in NMC.

As long as it doesn't affect the hash rate... right now, it seems to be down a bit.

Btw, the pool has been stable lately. Good job. 5% is a small price to pay for a peace of mind.

Yeah, hash rate is down because downtime was almost 2 hours (and website down for an extra 1 hour roughly). Wouldn't be surprised to see hash rate higher than before by the end of the weekend thanks to the addition of merged mining.

NMC wallet address entry, payouts, and API data will likely be up in about 12 hours. I've been doing some database cleanup and monitoring for the last few hours before I go to bed, making sure its not going to crash 5 minutes after I shut my eyes.